Electric pulse counter



July 22, 1958 w. LIEBKNECHT ELECTRIC PULSE COUNTER Filed May 10, 1955WERNER LIEBK/VECHZINVENTOR.

ATTOR/VE V5 United States Patent LECT IC PULSE COUNTER WernerLiebknecht, Bonn, Germany, assignor to Elmeco A. G., Zurich,Switzerland, a Swiss company Application May 10, 1955, Serial .No.507,424

Claims priority, application Germany May 11, 1954 1 Claim. ((31. 235-82)The counting of electrical pulses has become more and more important intechnology; it is used as call counter and time-and-range counter intelephone systems, in all types of calculating machine, in the radiationmeasurements technique, in mass production and packing machines and notleast in ofiice machines, sorting and statistical equipments, etc.

Hitherto two fundamentally different types of pulse counter have beenavailable for such problems.

For pulse sequences of upto about 50 p. p. s. (pulses per second)different varieties of the old ,call counters have been used, thecounter continuing to be controlled mechanically by the energization andde-energization of one or several electromagnets.

When the pulse sequences reach 500p. s. and more, the undisputed fieldof activity of the electronic counters begins. It is true thatelectronic counters also work perfectly down to as low a pulse sequenceas desired, but at this level they cannot complete with electromechanical counters on account of their high price and their technicalrequirements. For the operating range of about -500 p. p. s. there hasso far been no counter which operates perfectly and is suitable, asregards scope and price, to meet the great demand for this range.

The known electromechanical counters with pawl control of anydescription were unsuited for this purpose. The drive systems were toosluggish and thus could not be used for higher pulse sequences. Aparticular drawback was also the fact that several elements wererequired for the drive, namely, armatures, thrust pawls, lock pawls andvarious springs. These parts produced a natural resonance at elevatedpulse sequences and rendered the work ing of the counter unstable.

Other fundamental drawbacks were the high wear and tear and especiallythe great noise connected therewith which was caused by the large numberof driving elements and became almost intolerable as the pulse frequencyincreased. All these defects are eliminated according to the presentinvention by the fact that a system working without flexible parts isused for the drive.

The fundamental operation diagram of a typical embodiment of theinvention is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

The cipher wheels a to f with the intermediate wheels Z form a normal6-position counter. is arranged on this decade-type counter. The magnetwheel P is designed in ten sections according to Fig. 2 and is rigidlyconnected to the cipher wheel a. In Fig. 1 the magnet wheel P is drawnas an independent wheel for the purpose of illustrating the embodiment.In order to save space, the magnet wheel could, however, also carry thefigure rim of the cipher wheel a. would then at the same time have themagnet wheel inside it and the width for the magnet wheel wouldtherefore be saved. The magnet wheel P can of course also be connectedto the cipher wheel a via any type of intermediate gear, insofar as thisappears desirable in special cases. In Fig. 2 E is a winding Sp with amagnet core which has pole shoes tapered on one side. The arrestingdevice A magnet wheel P The cipher wheel a Patented July 22 1958 ICE Ris formed by a permanent magnet with tapering pole shoe, but can also bedesigned as an electromagnet. If the winding Sp of the magnet E isexcited by a current, the magnet wheel P will advance half a step inclockwise direction and the poles l and 2 will now be immediately infront of the core legs of the magnet The pole 3 is moved away from thearresting magnet R. The latter reaches the pole 4 of the magnet wheelwith the tapered end of its pole shoe.

When the pulse is over and the flow of current through the winding Spceases, the arresting magnet R pulls the pole 4 of the magnet wheel P infront of its core and with this second half-step one whole step of thecipher wheel a has been completed. This cycle is repeated in the samesequence at every subsequent pulse. If the tapered pole shoes of themagnet core E and the arresting magnet R in'Fig. 2 are not pointed tothe right but to the left, the direction of rotation of the magnet wheelwill be inverse.

Thus two magnets E and R are located at the magnet wheel P. At leastoneof the magnets E and R must be excited electromagnetically, this being'the magnet E in the construction shown in Figure '2. The magnets E and Rare so. arranged in relation to the poles .of the magnet wheel P thatonly one of. these poles can be located directly opposite one of themagnets, while the pole shoe of the other magnet will be somewhatshifted in rela tion to other poles. of; the magnet wheel P. Forexample, in F gure 2,, the pole 3 of the magnet wheel P is located.direc ly opposite. the magnet R, while the poles 1 and 2 of the magnetwheel P are located opposite the extensions of the pole shoe of themagnet E which taper in the direction opposite to the direction ofrotation of the magnet wheel P. Preferably, the arrangement is such thatthe main portions of the pole shoes of the magnet B will be locatedprecisely between two poles of the magnet wheel P. Thus, by way ofexample shown in Figure 2, the left upper pole shoe of the magnet E islocated precisely between poles 0 and 1 of the magnet wheel P, asindicated by a broken line in Figure 2.

The operation of the device may be summarized as follows:

When the magnet E is excited by the electrical impulses in the windingSp, a magnetic field will be formed between the pole shoes of the magnetE, which is so powerful that the magnet wheel P will be turned in thedirection of the arrow shown in Figure 2, until the poles l and 2 of themagnet wheel P will be located directly opposite the main portions ofthe pole shoes of the magnet E. Consequently, if the magnet wheel hasten poles it will be turned to the extent of the angle 21r/2O or 1r/l0.During this rotation the force of attraction between the magnet R andthe pole 3 is overcome, since the electro-magnet E when excited by thecurrent, is stronger than the magnet R. Then the pole 4 of the magnetwheel P will be located opposite the tapered portion of the pole shoe ofthe magnet R. This position will be maintained so long as the winding Spis supplied with an electrical impulse. However, as soon as this impulseis terminated, the force of attraction of the magnet R will prevail, sothat the pole 4 of the magnet wheel P will be attracted and will move toa position directly opposite the main portion of the pole shoe of themagnet R. Then the magnet wheel P will assume the same position as thatshown in Figure 2, except that the poles of the magnet wheel P have beenshifted or turned to the extent of one pole. Thus the magnet wheel P hasnow carried out a rotation to the extent of the angle 21r/10 or 1r/5.Obviously, this procedure will be continuously repeated.

In the construction shown in Figure 2 the magnet R is shown as apermanent magnet. However, the magnet R can be also constructed as anelectro-magnet which is 3 supplied with electrical current only when theelectromagnet E is not excited. Then the counting is carried out by aso-called double current.

This arrangement in comparison to prior art constructions has theimportant advantage that no mechanical pawl's are required.Pawl-operated devices wear out quickly and have a substantial magneticinertia which substantially diminishes the speed of counting.

The tapered pole shoes can also be arranged on the poles of the magnetwheel, in which case no such pole shoes are required on the magnet coreE and the arresting magnet R. If, according to Fig. l, the magnet wheelis not arranged next to the unit cipher roll, thus enlarging the widthof the counter, but if the drive is placed beneath the cipher rolls, thefollowing suitable embodiment results:

The magnet wheel is designed with a small number of poles and thus has asmall diameter, i. e. small moment of inertia; it has an elongated formsimilar to a motor armature. A sort of magnet wheel motor is thusobtained for the drive of the counter.

The size of the magnet wheel or the magnet wheel motor beneath thecipher rolls and the dimensioning of the driving and arresting magnetscan now be easily adapted to the power required to drive the counter.The width of the space taken up by the counter is not affected.

The small diameter of the magnet wheel results in a small moment ofinertia and is particularly advantageous for short pulse times i. e.high counting frequencies.

With this form of drive the driving force of the magnet wheel motor mustbe transmitted to the cipher rolls via intermediate gears orsilent-running transmission belts (gear-driven V-belts or similartransmission members). This additional power consumption, however, isinsig- 4 nificant in comparison with the advantages mentioned. Inparticular, transmission by a gear-driven, small V-belt has proved mostsuitable.

It is obvious that a counter drive of this type is largely free frominertia and thus works better than the electromechanical counters knownhitherto even at much higher impulse frequencies. It is evident that thedrive of a counter driven by a magnet wheel functions almost withoutwear. The silent operation of the counter is also found to beparticularly pleasant.

Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is:

An electric pulse counter, comprising a rotary wheel inducing a magneticfield and having a plurality of uniformly spaced poles, two magnetshaving pole shoes, each of said pole shoes having a main portion and atapered portion extending in a direction opposite to the direction ofrotation of said wheel, said pole shoes being so located adjacent todifferent poles of the wheel that when the main portion of the pole shoeof one magnet is located directly opposite one pole of the wheel solelythe tapered portion of the pole shoe of the other magnet is locateddirectly opposite another pole of the wheel, and an exciter windingoperatively connected with at least one of said magnets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED. STATES PATENTS593,612 Scribner Nov. 16, 1897 FOREIGN PATENTS 232,260 Switzerland Aug.16, 1944

